WILLMAR-- After a steady turnout at its first run in April, a second "Coffee with the Cops" event has been set for Thursday at Caribou Coffee, 2319 1st Street South.
From 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., Willmar residents are invited to visit with officers from the Willmar Police Department and sip on a complimentary regular coffee.
The event is free and open to the public. It's informal, so visitors can come and go as they please.
Police Chief Jim Felt said in April the event is designed to let community members ask or say anything.
“It’s more of a low-stress environment,” Felt said. “We don’t just want to be guys who drive by in cars."
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“Coffee with a Cop” events aren’t new, but they have been building steam as a community relations tool nationwide in the last few months.
The first happened in Hawthorne, California, in 2011, according to coffeewithacop.com. Since then, over 2,000 communities have hosted similar events.
The Willmar Police Department has said they plan to hold more Coffee with the Cops events in the coming months, at different coffee shops around Willmar.
